Rail-sustaining bar



(No Model.)

G BAR.

W. GOLDI RAIL SUSTAININ I Patented Apr. 5,1898.

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Arnim RAIL-SUSTAINING BAR.

SPECIFICATION forming* part f Letters Patent No. 601,645, dated .April5, 1898.

Application filed April 17, 1897.

To all whom, it nur/y concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GoLDIE, a resident of Wilkinsburg, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Rail- Supporting Bars; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to the support of the ordinary railroad-rail uponwooden cross-ties,- its object being to provide for the support of therail on the cross-tie in. `such way as to provide for the propercushioning of the rail upon the wooden tie, while protecting the tiefrom wear of the rail, and at the same time to provide a cheapsustaining means and one which overcomes the principal diiiicultiesheretofore experienced with what were known as wear or tie plates. Themost efficient means for supporting the rail upon the tie heretoforeemployed has been a tie-plate, which by means of ribs or prongs held tothe tie, the plate extending on each side of the rail and beingpreferably provided with a shoulder against which the rail tted toresist the lateral strain lof the rail, While the plate 'hadlspike-holes or slots in which the spikes tted, thel spikes in this Wayacting withthe plates in sustainin g the lateral strain. In the ordinaryuse of such tie-plates difficulties have been encountered,which may bebriefly stated as follows; y Where these plates were to be placed upon atie which had previously been worn, so as to protect the surfacethereof, and the rail had worn into thev faceof thetie, it was necessaryto lift the rail and adze a level surface on the tie sufficiently largeto receive the plate, which increased the labor and cost of applyingthese plates to tracks already laid. When the plates were applied eitherto new tracks or tracks previously laid, as the principal strain was onthe center of the plate,while the prongs or engaging devices were eitherlocated or extended out beyond the base of the rail, the plate wasliable to bend or, as it is termed, buckle under the strain, and in sodoing lift the prongs or longitudinal flanges out of the tie where theplate extended beyond the rail-basewhen the plate was liable to slide onthe tie or, as it was termed, skate, which rendered the track noisy,insecure, and un- Serial No. 632,586. (No model.)

safe, because it increased both the longitudinal or pulling strain andthe lateral strain upon the spikes, which were then the only means ofholding the plates. On account of the large amount of metal employed inthese plates it was not practicable to form them of sufficient thicknessto overcome these difficulties and market them at reasonable rates.Another difficulty found with the ordinary tie-plate was that it gavesupport at irregular distances, this arising from the fact that therailroad-ties were of different widths, according to the trees fromwhich they Were obtained, the ties varyingin width from about Vseven tosixteen inches, and these ties being kplaced about the same distanceapart, (say about eight inches,) without reference to their width, sothat the spaces between the points at which the plates were locatedvaried; and as the ordinary tie-plate supported `the rail above the faceof the tie when doing efficient Work this rendered the wave motionarising from the strain of the passing train on the ties,which areslightly yielding, irregular and threw greater strain upon the entiretrack. By my invention these several difficulties are overcome, while atthe same time an exceedingly cheap and efficient support between the tievand rail isprovided.

It consists, generally stated, in aA rail-sustaining bar of lengthAcorresponding approximately1 to the Width of the rail-base andhaving alateral upwardly-projecting shoulder at one end and lateraldownwardly-projecting prongs at each `end.

It also consists in certain other improvements hereinafter more fullysetv forth and claimed. l

To enable others skilled in theart to make and use my invention, I willdescribe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, inwhichy Figures l and 2 are perspective views of the preferred forms of,the rail-supporting bar, Fig. 1 illustrating the preferred form for usein soft wood, such as cedar, while Fig. 2 represents the preferred formfor use with hard wood, such as oak. Fig. 3 is a perspective sectionshowing the supportingbar seated in the tie with the rail restingthereon, showing the same as applied to a new tie. Fig. 4 is a like viewshowing the same applied IOO to an old tie in order to prevent furtherwear. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of portions of two rails resting onseveral ties and showing the .rails meeting and the use of thelsupportingbar in connection with the meeting joints of the rails.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in each view.

I have illustrated the invention in the two preferred forms of the same.

The bar A (shown in Fig. l) has the body portion a, which illustratesthe principle of the use of a bar having a comparatively narrow surfaceand thick or rigid body, the purpose being to form as narrow a surfaceas practicable to give the support and to have a body at leastsufliciently thick or rigid to prevent bending or buckling of the bar asthe same is forced down into the tie. The bar is preferably made aboutone inch in width and about three-eighths of an inch in thickness forordinary uses, though it is not intended to limit it to thesedimensions. provided with downwardly-proj ecting pron gs to hold it tothe tie, and I prefer to locate these prongs in the manner shown in thedrawingsMnamely, at each end of .the barand ralso prefer that the prongsshall be of the full Width of the bar. The prongs may, however, belocated at any suitable place under the bar and one or more prongs beused, as found desirable. The function of the prong or prongs is, ofcourse, to hold the bar securely to the tie and provide lateralresistance to its movement, and I find the preferable constructiony tobe that above stated, where the prongs b c extend downwardly from theends of the bar and at right angles to the length thereof and are of thefull width of the bar, so that when driven into the tie they providelateral resistanceto the movement of the bar for thefull width thereofand so assist the shoulder d thereof in sustaining the rail againstlateral strain. I thus obtain maximum resistance to lateral strain withminimum width and weight of bar.

Where the bar is to be used with soft-wood ties, such as cedar orcypress, I prefer the form of prong illustrated in Fig. l, the upperportion e of the prong being of practically the same thickness for somedistance below the bar and the body then tapering, as at f, toward thepoint, while the point has the diagonal cutting edges g g formed thereonand extending from the center of the point upwardly. With such a pointthe diagonal cutting edges sever the fiber on different planes and soprevent the bunching of the same, while the inclined faces spread thefiber, and above the same the upper portion e of the prong, the faces ofwhich are parallel, fills the hole made by the prong and prevents theentrance of water into the same. The prongs shown in Fig. 2 aresubstantially of the same shape, except that the base is formed with achisel cutting edge, as at h, it being found that such edge is betteradapted for hard wood, such The bar is as oak. The form of the shoulderd can be varied as desired, it being preferred, however, that a shoulderof considerable height be employed to prevent the lifting and riding ofthe rail over the same and it being preferred that the shoulder beplaced directly over the prong b, so as to bring the weight of the railas near as practicable over such prong. The length of the bar preferablycorresponds approximately to the width of the rail-base, so that theother prong c will either be under the rail-base or close to thesamethat is, the rail will bear on the bar at a point so close to theprong or to that end of thebar as to prevent any such strain on the baras would give tendency to bending or buckling thereof, as found in theordinary tie-plate. For example, according to the varying widths ofrail-bases--from four to ive and one-half inches-it would be preferredto employ three or more different lengths of bars to accommodate theseveral widths of rail-bases.

When the rail-sustaining bar is employed in the laying of new track, allthat is necessary is to place the bar under the rail with the shoulder dagainst the outer edge of the l rail-base and give it a slight blow toproperly locate it and start it into the cross-tie. The trains inpassing over the rail will then force the bar down onto the tie and in ashort time embed it in the tie, so bringing the top face g 7e of therail-sustaining bar even with the top face of the wooden tie, and at thesame time compressing the fiber of the wood under the bar to such extentas to harden and compact it and provide by means of this compacted 2fiber a body to resist further downward movement of the bar. these barsare distributed one on a tie or two In the laying of the track on a tie,according to the width of the tie.

i For example, where a narrow tie is employed one would naturally beplaced near the center thereof and where a broad tie is employed onewould be naturally placed near each outer edge, so giving support forthe rail at two points on that tie, and, considering the irregular widthof the ties above stated, in this way support can be given at moreregular points than with the ordinary tie-plates, so enabling thetrackmen to make a more uniform and regular distribution of metal. A

, further advantage found in this connection is that the trackmen candistribute th e metal according to the strain brought on any particu larpart of the track. For example, on straight track one such bar would beall that would joints further advantage is found, as illustrated in Fig.5, where the two rails p p are connected by the angle-bars q, and therail-sus- ICO IIO

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taining bars (one or more) can be interposed under each rail near itsend and in such position as to enable the spikes r to be inserted in theslots r of the angle-bars without inter-` Y serted on track already laidand in ties into which the rails have pressed or worn on account of thenarrowness of the bar, and, further, because it corresponds in lengthapproximately to the Width of the rail-base, it is only necessary todraw the spikes and lift the rail sufficiently high to insert the barunder the same and in position so that as pressure cornes upon the railfrom the next passing train-it can force this bar down into the tie, thenecessity for adzing off the face of the tie being overcome and thepressure of the train upon the rail embedding the bar in the tie in thesame manner as described in.

making new track. This reduces materially the labor of track repair anddoes away with one of the most serious difficulties of protecting thetie in track already laid.

With track having these rail-sustaining bars, while wear or further wearinto the tie is prevented by means of the bar, which gives this resultas efficiently as a wide plate, yet the rails do rest upon the ties, andthe cushioning or yielding action of the Wood surface is obtained to agreater extent than where a wide tie-plate is used,and thereforeeasier-riding track is provided, while, as above shown, the points ofsupport can be arranged at more regular distances and the number of thebars employed can be regulated according to the strain brought upon thatparticular part of the track, whether it be straight or curved or ofheavy grade. The liability of the heavy strain brought upon the bar fromthe pass.- ing train causing the bending or buckling of the bar is alsoprevented, because the prong or prongs are located either under or closeto the rail-base, which naturally distributes the strain over the entiresupporting-surface of the bar. In the preferred form of sustainingbarillustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 a further important advantage is obtainedin resisting lateral strain in the fact that the prong or prongs can bemade the full width ofthe bar and provide a face to resist such strainof width corresponding to that against which the rail-base bears withoutsevering too great width of liber of the tie, as would be the case if along flange were employed extending for the full width of an ordinarytie-plate.

The bars can be formed rapidly and cheaply by well-known means, such asby rolling and shearing, and can be produced at about onethird the costof efficient tie-plates, so that they can be used as freely as theordinary spike.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A narrow rigid rail-sustaining bar of length correspondingapproximately to the Width of the rail-base, and having a lateralupwardly-projecting shoulder at one end and lateraldownwardly-projecting prongs at or near each end, substantially as setforth.

2. A narrow rigid rail-sustaining bar having lateraldownwardly-projecting prongs at or near the ends, the upper portions ofthe prongs being the full Widthof the bar, substantially as set forth.

3. A narrow rigid rail-sustaining bar having an upwardly-projectinglateral shoulder at one end, and a downwardly-projecting prong directlyunder the shoulder, substantially as set forth. l

4. In combination with a rail and tie, a railsustaining bar of lengthcorresponding approximatelyto the Width of the rail-base and having anupwardly-projecting shoulder at one end to sustain lateral strain, anddownwardly-projecting prongs at each end, the upper portions of whichare the full width vof the bar,said bar being interposed transversely ofthe rail and being adapted to be pressed bodily into the tie,substantially as set forth. In testimony whereof I, the said WILLIAMGOLDIE, have hereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM GOLDIE.

Witnesses:

ROBT. D. TorfrnN, ROBERT C. ToTTEN.

